Confessions of a Rat
Monday marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, which, as anyone who ever ate in a Chinese restaurant knows, is marked by a sign from the Chinese Zodiac. This New Year will be the Year of the Ox. But this last year was the year of the Rat, and I am one of them.
It’s tough to be a Rat. Every time I’m in that Chinese restaurant, I scan the placemat hoping that this time they will have made a change and my birth year will no longer be the year of the Rat, but, no, there it is. I’m still a Rat.
This, supposedly, isn’t as bad in China as it is in the U.S. According to the Wikipedia article about the sign of the Rat, we Rats are “leaders, pioneers, and conquerors” who are “charming, passionate, determined, tenacious, intelligent, etc., etc. . . . the most highly organized, meticulous, militaristic and systematic of the twelve signs” – hmm, maybe I’m not a Rat, after all.
I mean I can own the “charming, passionate, intelligent” stuff, but “well organized?” I don’t think so.
Right after Christmas, I noticed on a friend’s coffee table a hilarious little booklet entitled, How to Become a Psychic”. Among the tips, it advised the would be psychic to always give people descriptions of themselves that they could identify with. For example: “You are thoughtful and very private, but there are times when you can be the life of the party.” I think horoscopes work the same way.
Nevertheless, if I’m honest, I can recognize my heart of darkness in the description of the Rat: “Power and control are two things a Rat both needs and wants, and it is impossible not to be struck, and even impressed, by the sheer ruthless, unapologetic and shameless way in which they may pursue their ambitions.”
The Bible has an ambivalent attitude toward astrology, which apparently has been practiced from time immemorial. The Magi or Wisemen, who come to visit the baby Jesus, say that that they “have seen his star in the East”. That may mean that there was some kind of supernova, a comet or some other spectacular phenomenon in the sky. But it could have been an astrological sign, perhaps the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in Leo, which was associated with the Tribe of Judah in 3 B.C.
On the other hand, the Book of Deuteronomy recommends stoning for those who “bow down to the stars”. That does not mean that there are not spiritual powers at work in our world. Ephesians 6 speaks of “principalities and powers in the heavenly places”, but these do not have the final say over our lives, nor does our DNA or the environment in which we were raised. My DNA has determined that I am hard of hearing, but I can still choose to wear a hearing aid. My upbringing may have taught me prejudices against people who are different from me, but I can choose to be open. And being born a Rat may mean that I am capable of doing anything to get my own way, but I can choose to act ethically and fairly instead.
This is one of the many things we mean when we say, “Christ has set us free.”
